1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a hood and, more particularly, to a hood which may be worn while participating in outdoor sporting or athletic activities. The hood furnishes a comfortable, non-bulky construction while providing warmth and moisture management.
2. Description of the Related Art
Outdoor athletics have become increasingly popular causing clothing manufacturer's to produce apparel that meets the needs of outdoor enthusiasts and athletes. It is known to provide a hood for covering a user's head and face. However, the prior art has suffered from not sufficiently advancing athletic wear to provide a hood that is both fashionable, functional and comfortable.
Balaclavas are well known for providing a close-fitting knitted covering for the head and neck, leaving only the face, or parts of it exposed. Such a hood is disclosed in Schuessler U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,611, which in an unstretched state covers almost the entire face of a user, exposing only his eyes and the bridge of his nose through a face opening. The user may try to roll the hood back and thereby expose a top portion of the user's head when environmental conditions do not require full head protection or when the user wishes to release heat from the head area. On the other hand, the user may desire to stretch the fabric downward to expose the nose, cheeks, mouth and chin of the wearer to release heat.
A disadvantage of the above-noted types of hoods is that because of the stretching, the material of the hood tends to lose its elasticity and not properly return to its original untensioned state, leading to diminished protection, especially if the material of the hood is knitted. This problem may be exacerbated if the material has picked up moisture from rain or a user's breath. Further, when the hood is initially rolled back, a lower portion of the opening may cause an uncomfortable amount of stress to a lower portion of the user's nose. These problems are particularly evident for people participating in athletic activities who frequently wish to expose their upper head or face, while not entirely removing their hood.
Efforts have been made to address problems associated with hoods that lose their elastically and fail to maintain their shape. For example, Schuessler U.S. Pat. No. 3,717,882 provides fasteners that control the shape of a facial opening by clinching together a top and bottom central portion of the opening when maximum facial coverage is desired leaving only the user's eyes exposed. However, such a design requires a user to manually snap together the fasteners, which may be inappropriate if the user is participating in an activity that would otherwise require his attention. Also, the use of a metal or plastic fastener could potentially scratch a user's face during a contact sport.
It has also been proposed to provide a hood having a crown covering portion attached to a neck piece, as in Ensten U.S. Pat. No. 2,039,478. Such a design is deficient due to its use of a knitted material that looses its ability to maintain a form fitting shape, as in the previously mentioned references. Further, the hood of Ensten only provides limited coverage of a user's face. This limited coverage results from the neck piece being secured in one position, thus, reducing its ability to comfortably provide varying levels of coverage to a user's face area.